MISSION ATLANTIS
by Katniss 111
Summary: All Alex Rider wanted after Jack's death and MI6's countless missions was some good rest and recover, and after some time when he actually feels good the MI6 have to spoil it, AGAIN. It starts when Alex's grade has to go to the CIA to train and it continues until Alex is confronted into a new, dangerous and frightening mission that will freeze his blood right away.
1. Where It Started

CHAPTER 1:

Alex Rider was a quiet boy, he didn't talk much, didn't scream much, he didn't bother much, he almost did no sound to tell you the truth. Even if he wasn't really mean to anybody and wasn't a complete weirdo, most people woould probably avoid him.

And that was wise.

Sometimes, when you passed him he would flash you one of his shy smiles, those slightly evil, sly and small but lopsided smiles that told you: _I know something, and you don't! _

Maybe you could even strike a small conversation if he was willing to and you had the time to do it. You could even start a discussion if you were Sabina Pleasure, Louis and Lewis Harmstrong or Rebecca Rogue, Alex's friends.

But, he wasn't much of a chatter.

Alex had a nice life with the Pleasures, he had Sabina to talk to, the sort of father-like figure he wanted to follow, a warm soul taking care of him and making him feel like a spoiled child...but he wasn't really happy. Not much, he missed Jack, his old home, Brookland High Tom...he was homesick.

But well, things were how things were and now he was studying at Westingmoore School for Talented Teens or WSTT as the top student in his grade.

Of course, this quiet and cozy life broke into pieces the day when the Westingmoore students were reunited in an assembly. They sat in the bleachers waiting for Principal Davis and Vice Principal Johnson.

"What do you think is going to happen?" asked Lewis or Louis-whatever, Alex could never get them straight. Identical twins with bright blue eyes, bright blonde hair that stuck up and mischievous grins.

"We BARELY have assemblies," said Louis or Lewis, "'_We should not waste our time on assemblies, they spend time and energy from the students."_

Rebecca snorted. "You mimick Principal Davis EXACTLY."

"I'm the pro," said Louis or Lewis huffing his chest.

Sabina hushed them when Principal Davis came in, his nearly bald head shining like always and with Vice-Principal Johnson's quick steps. Followin him, were two teens or men-whatever you want to call them, one about 19 and one about 20.

They stood in the podium.

"Hello students, teachers and staff members," said Principal Davis, "this might seem a bit unexpected but today we're reunited as one to discuss a very important issue."

"The american government," continued Vice Principal Johnson nervously, "has the new mission of providing self-protection skills, military and safety knowledge and to encourage citizens to join in the armies."

_I'm not liking where this is going, _thought Alex.

"Therefore," said Principal Davis, "the CIA's camps has offered to train a few schools by the time to do this and we're honored to be one of those schools."

_Oh crap, _thought Alex. _Well, at least it's not Brecon Beacons._

"Here we have..." Vice Principal Johnson looked nervously at the two men, "er..."

"Scorpion."

"Mutt."

"Oh, yes...of course, er...they will be here to answer any questions."

Sabina raised her hand along with several other students.

"Yes?" asked Mutt towards Sabina.

"How long will we be there?" she asked nervously.

"1 month or 2, depending on how much you've progressed."

"Right," said Scorpion towards Aaron Tomlinson, who you would probably call a nerd.

"Which grade will you start with?"

"It's by age, 16 year olds will come next month which is only a week away, we will you give time to pack and prepare for the trip."

Several questions continued showering them.

"Are the camp conditions harsh?"

"Are the bathrooms clean?"

"Are we going to see any agents? Are they nice?"

"Will we be trained like a professional agent?"

"What if we die?"

"What if we are allergic to something there?"

"Are we going to see the captain? COOL!"

"Are there schedules for everything?"

"What will we practice?"

"Where will we sleep?"

"How long do you practice?"

After several more questions and several more answers, the students didn't seem quite optimistic about the trip anymore, the 10th, 11th and 12th graders slightly fidgeted and gulped.

Then Alex timidly raised his hands and thousands of eyes were fixed on him, and Scorpion's jaw fell right open and Mutt blinked, trying not to appear surprised but obviously was.

"MUTT, THAT'S THE, _THE _KID!"

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID GIT, CAN'T YOU SEE WE'RE IN A PUBLIC PLACE?"

"BUT IT'S HIM MUTT."

"I _SEE _THAT SCORPION, NOW LET'S GET ON WITH IT!"

Scorpion asked Alex what he wanted to ask and Alex asked:

"Is it necessary or can you not go?"

"It is obligatory," said Scorpion back and smiled weakly, "and for _you _buddy, it's ABSOLUTELY neccessary."

He looked at the rest of the 9th graders and said:

"I wish good luck to you all and we'll see you next month!"

He laughed in an evil, Darth-Vader way as if to say:

_Ha, ha ha! I can't wait to see your faces when you fry your butts out in the camps!_


	2. Eureka, California

CHAPTER 2:

A week later, Alex sat on his bed trying to decide what to bring to the CIA camp, when Sabina popped her head in.

"Hey Alex, do you know what you're going to pack?"

"No idea," he responded chuckling, she sat next to him.

"Me neither, I mean...I can't exactly bring Mr. Cuddles with me to the camp, can I?"

They both laughed and Alex responded, "Not really, I'd bring some practical things."

So after Sabina went back to her own room to search for practical things like some 1D magazines, killer make-up and clothes, Alex started packing things into his medium sized backpack.

He got a hairbrush, a toothbrush, tooth paste, a fresh bar of soap, a towel, some fresh clothes, a small Swiss Army knife that Edward Pleasure had handed to him for his birthday, 2 bottles of water, a few granola bars, a bit of money and a compass that LIZ Pleasure has handed over to him for his birthday too.

"ALEX! SABINA! THE BUS IS HERE ALREADY!"

"Coming dad!" exclaimed Sabina from the next room.

"LIKEWISE!" said Alex putting his backpack over him and looking beyond. He sighed and hopped down the stairs nervously with Sabina behind him.

"Be careful, you two," said Liz Pleasure after hugging them, "and don't get into any trouble..."

Sabina rolled her eyes, "We won't mom, I'll miss you!"

"Me too Sabina dear, but really, don't mess with those soldiers..."

"MOM!"

"Just saying!"

Alex smiled and greeted them as he opened the door and went outside, after it was closed Sabina and Alex saw a gigantic camouflage painted truck on their doorstep.

Sabina looked nervously at Alex and he gave her a reassuring smile, and they both hopped into the bus and sat in the back with Louis and Lewis, who were grinning at them.

Immediately, they started babbling about how cool this was going to be and how they were going to be agents.

The bus went speeding down the road TOP-SPEED despite how narrow the roads were and how heavy the bus was from kids. The driver slammed the breaks suddenly and everybody jumped forward, they were

"These are soldiers," said Alex, "camps for soldiers...not agents."

"Aww, that's too bad," said Lewis or Louis, "I was hoping we could-I dunno, actually do some missions or stuff? That would have been cool."

"AND DANGEROUS," said Sabina. "Oh look! We're at Becs!"

Red-headed Rebecca grinned at them and then settled with Sabina for a 1D talk while the boys talked about the camp.

"Too many movies Lewis," said Louis back to Lewis, "they are OBVIOUSLY not going to let you be in a mission."

"You have to be trained too you know," said Alex carefully.

Lewis sighed. "I KNOW, it's pretty exciting! I hope we see those huge dudes like the G.I. Joe dudes! Or guys like Dominic Toretto from Fast and Furious!"

Louis looked like he wanted to slam his head into the wall and Alex only chuckled at Lewis repeating: "Too many movies, too many movies..."

After, they reached an airport and walked towards a private section where Scorpion and Mutt were waiting them.

"HOWDY MATES, YOU SURVIVED THE RIDE!" they shouted in unision.

Scorpion grinned, "We'll be going on these planes for the next stop, or our station, there'll be food-"

At the word 'Food' everybody went crazy and dashed on top of the plane to their seats before Scorpion could finish talking. Becca and Sabina sat together while Lewis, Louis and Alex did.

The food was fried chicken, iced tea and a bag full of fries which were scrumptious and they ate furiously, who knew if they would eat this in the camp?

After about 40-50 minutes the plane reached Eureka City which by Alex's knowledge was in northern California and landed swiftly in the spot. As the students emptied out, several amused soldiers came from their practicing centers to watch the newbies and then back to their training spots.

"Welcome to the California Agent Camp!" exclaimed Mutt as they went down, his crimson hair shining against the hot sun.

It was nice, it was covered by a huge, green forest full of mystery and a bit beyond them, blue seas that shone like shattered crystals, the sun was high in the air and the weather just right. Sabina smiled at Alex and Alex sent her one of his shy smiles and looked up.

"Right now, Sargent Dane will be talking to you, the Head of this Camp, now follow me and don't get lost or you'll be Grisly's punchbag!"

Nobody wanted to be that.

They walked into a gray building where a man stood waiting for them, he was in his mid-40's and had dark brown hair, serious and creepy gray eyes, a wary and tired but menacing face, large arms that were cracking with muscles, dusty fingers, and was toned and tall. He wore a green uniform with several medals.

"SARGENT DANE!" said Scorpion, the man nodded at them and they left quickly.

Sargent Dane wasn't too bad, he told them about the camp, an introduction basically; he told them about the life in the barracks and in the camps, he told them the purpose, a speech of how glad he was and then answered questions.

"He gives me sort of the creeps," whispered Sabina as they went off to their first class.

They were divided in groups: Group A, Group B, Group C and Group D.

Alex and Sabina along with a few other kids were in Group A, while Becca was in Group B and the Harmington twins were in Group D.

Alex and Sabina went to their class, they entered and gasped, except Alex of course, he remembered Mrs. Jones' email.

_"-and remember Alex, you are going to be with your peers the first day and in the second you will be classified into an advanced one, prove yourself but don't let them know you're a spy. Don't make them suspicious, your peers-I think you've had enough practice for that, Alex."_

There were weapons all over the place, stuck to the walls, hanging from the ceiling, in the tables and some piled in the floors. There were katanas, scythes, knives, swords, seraph blades, normal blades, guns, machine guns, spears, axes, wires, hammers, and so much more! It was Weapon Heaven.

Sitting in a chair looking bored, was a handsome boy about 18 that was sort of Elvis cool. He had slick black hair that slightly covered his eyes, dark eyes which were handsome, charming and almond shaped, a sharp nose, a tall and toned body, a perfect carved face with caucasian skin...basically he looked like a movie star.

Most girls were freaking out, except Sabina.

"Oh, hello," he said after he finished polishing his bloody blade and looked at them.

Scorpion smirked, "Still punished?"

"STILL," said the boy rolling his eyes, "I still don't know why we had to move HERE out of all places, Pennsylvannia maybe, or Washington D.C, or Massachusetts. THAT I understand, but Eureka, California? Sigh. I just accidently exploded a toilet. No biggie, we did that all the time back home...there were so many accidents."

"Well," sighed Scorpion, "your home is not like ours, now...here's your group."

"I see that," said the boy, "hello, I'm Agent Coleman and I'll be teaching you some weapon shooting and fighting techniques soon enough."

Scorpion waved at the group and Alex leaned back.

"Today we'll start basic," said Agent Coleman warily, "we'll do some no weapon practice and then we'll do some practice knife-throwing."

Everybody nodded, excited while Alex merely blinked.

"So let's see, you, Alex Rider, come here."

"He knows your name," whispered Sabina.

Alex shrugged and went over there.

"Alex here, will be my example. For example, let's do some stomping, the human foot has the most bones in it, now Alex," he looked at him, "stomp my foot as hard as you can."

Alex did, he used medium strength.

"You can do better," yawned Coleman, "HARDER."

Alex stomped as hard as he could and he swore he could hear a bone crack.

"Excellent," said Coleman facing the class slightly biting his lip, "stomp that hard and you will be pretty good off, let's practice, here-er, take this and stomp as hard as you can."

Aaron stomped his foot and cried out: "Holy gee! What's in that thing?!"

"Just an iron block," said Coleman, "now you girl, stomp."

Violet Monroe did, and made a tiny mark that was barely visible and she rubbed her red feet.

And so on until it was Sabina's turn, and she winced after her turn, she made a little hole that was a bit visible and she smiled.

"Now you," said Coleman to Alex, he stomped obviously bored and a crack formed.

They took more turns cracking and breaking the iron blob until it broke down to only a few pieces and Coleman was satisfied.

Then they punched punching bags with rocks in them (smooth rocks), kicked bronze balls around and played a game of soccer with them to relax while training and then they moved to knife throwing.

Alex was full of energy while everybody else was groaning, wincing and gasping for breaths, they weren't used to this life, obviously.

"Right," said Coleman, "first, look at me."

He threw a knife faster than Alex could have blinked, he was impressed, the knife flew across the room and PLUCK! It hit the bull's eyes. Everybody clapped and he simply nodded.

He explained how to throw a knife, some tricks, some techniques and then let them practice, Alex hit the bull's eyes but missed only once when he was bored.

Sabina squealed when her knife landed on the board but it was at the very rim, still, she was happy and soon, everybody including weak Aaron could throw a knife and make it hit the board.

"Good job guys," Coleman said, "so far we're good, go on...I want to see somebody except Rider getting NEAR the bull's eyes at least."

That, was not possible.

But they tried and tried, Mikeyla Vance got pretty close thought and landed on the 3rd circle area and she put her first in the air.

"Well," said Coleman, "you aren't complete suckers after-"

He was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering, a battle of bullets, silence and a body flying from the highest window and slamming head first to the ground, groaning.


	3. Alex's Unfortunate Fate

_Thank you for the reviews, everybody! It means SO, SO MUCH as I've said in my other fanfics like the Blood Red Dunes: _

_ s/9176495/1/The-Blood-Red-Dunes-The-80th-Hunger-Ga mes_

_Thank you for supporting! ;)_

CHAPTER 3:

Coleman rushed forward by instinct and picked the person up and turned it around, he lay the person's head on his lap and the girls covered their eyes.

The face was full of blood, a scar still bright red stretched from the person's cheek to it's chin and it was full of dirt, twigs and who knows what else. It was a bit disgusting to tell you the truth, the face was a little bruised and swollen just like the rest of the body.

They identified the person as a HER and her body was also as badly injured as her face, her legs were all cut up too and infected.

"FINALLY," she managed half-croaking and half-coughing, "that guy was creeping me out, he's been stalking me for 5 days nonstop."

"Funny it seems," said Coleman forcing his suave tone over his worried one, "that you can find a way to put humor in such a bad situation."

The girl managed a smile, "I'm fine Coleman, now get me standing up."

She managed to stand up for awhile while cursing and wincing a lot.

"Need help?" asked Coleman.

"NO," said the girl maybe too harshly, "I mean, no thank you. I'm fine."

"I don't care anyways, c'mon...I'll bring you there," said Coleman to Dawn.

Alex took a moment to see the girl, she was gray-eyed, black haired, toned, tall and seriously injured...she was an agent. Coleman got her into a piece of wood and told a few boys to lift it. The boys did and they were carrying her.

"After the incident," said Coleman, "they STILL got you in a mission?"

She winced, "Yes...a piece of advice, don't go to Las Vegas, Nevada. Bad place, very bad place..."

"I think you've gone mad already," said Coleman chuckling and Alex's eyebrows curled up. Was Dawn, Coleman's girlfriend? Why was he dedicating so much time after her? Sister? Dawn looked his age.

They reached the hospital wing where they dropped Dawn off and where Coleman informed them that the lessons were continuing tomorrow and they were off to lunch.

"My hands are killing me," groaned Sabina.

"That was only basic," said Alex shrugging, "no biggie."

"OBVIOUSLY, no biggie for YOU," growled Sabina while Alex laughed lightly, after getting some mush from the cafeteria, they sat down with the gang.

"It was SO BORING," said Becca yawning, "they teached us some Herbology stuff and how plants can help you in mission and moss on trees, boring stuff."

"What about you 2?" asked Lewis or Louis.

Sabina described them everything that happened and they were awe-struck, Louis and Lewis were excited because their next class was in Coleman's. Becca sighing on Sabina's description of Coleman.

Alex had a nasty habit...he was curious, too curious for anybody's liking and so that is how a very strange but very Alex-like idea got into his head.

"I'll be off...to the bathroom," he said as he got up and sneaked out of the cafeteria, he slid through the corridors, through the halls, camps and then reached the hospital wing in an impoossible speed. He went outside of the hospital wing and climbed until he was in the window he wanted which was in the 5th floor. He grabbed the frame at it's very rim and listened.

"-yeah, that boy? He's Alex Rider."

That was Coleman's voice, smooth and suave, then Alex heard a croak.

"What an unfortunate boy."

He heard a sigh and:

"Bad luck, bad fate...it always happens to all of us Dawn. It's just what they do and we can't do anything, it's part of our lives."

Silence.

"They don't care Coleman, they have never cared. Never cared about us, our loved ones, our feelings or anything else. Even if _he_ was Joe Byrne's favorite he didn't shed a tear when he-when he-"

Sobs. Uncontrollable sobs. A soothing pat on the back.

"It's too much for you Dawn, I'm sure Byrne's going to find some kind of revenge on those chaps...and with those documents you've received."

Hurried talking.

"I only found a piece of it, the ending...I need it, it's crucial. It reveals the key to the coded dots and messages, and the place-"

"You shouldn't worry too much Dawn, you're already this hurt, why did you think the CIA started with Rider's school? It's HIM they want, it's him they need. I heard Byrne knew Rider from last year."

"He can't Coleman, he just can't. Look where Nick is right now, I barely got out of there alive, the Truman brothers...in a mentally disturbed hospital screaming random things and with no memory...who knows what those men want, and did to them. Rider...he's goner alone."

"I'm sure they'll find him a suitable partner."

"Coleman, I'm the best in the group. Look at my condition, what about the other boys? They'll suffer worse and Rider will be lucky to get out of there alive."

Alex was not liking this conversation about him so far or the conversation in general.

He had so many questions that he wanted to scream out at them, so much to wonder...Lucky to be alive? Death? Injuries? Mentally Disturbed? Who were those bad guys? What message? What documents?

Sigh. Alex continued listening.

"PLUS, I don't think the CIA is giving me rest, I AM the one in charge to train Rider."

Silence. Deadly silence.

"So it's you Dawn."

"It's me."

Silence broke their conversation apart, looking at the glass, Alex saw Coleman's face...it was cold, angry but there was an eerie sadness in his eyes. Like a lost, dead soul or an abandonned, abused puppy. Someone full of pain.

"Well, their lunch is almost over, I'll visit you after curfew."

"Sargent Dane won't be happy, remember what he said the last time we sneaked out of his camp just to go and watch the sea," Alex heard a bit of coughing and Dawn's voice deepened into Sargent Dane's cranky and deep voice. "_'COLEMAN! DAWN! I THOUGHT YOU BOTH HAD MORE SENSE, I'LL TIE BELLS TO YOUR NECK IF YOU DO A STUNT LIKE THAT AGAIN!'"_

They both laughed and Coleman sighed, "I don't care what the old man thinks, well...see you Dawn, get better soon."

"I HOPE," she replied and closed her eye to rest and Coleman stood up, dusted himself and walked calmly out of the room.

Alex let go out of the window frame, and landed feet first but with a hard landing, Alex kneeled in pain, dropping from a 5 floor building like that must be hard. He kneeled and rubbed his feet and dashed quickly to the cafeteria before Coleman or anybody else could see him.

"What were you doing in there?" inquired Sabina when he sat next to her.

Louis or Lewis snorted, "It looked like you were having eggs inside a toilet."

Then after they finished slurping their totally bland and tasteless mush, they went off to their remaining classes. Alex had Cryptology, False Document Detection, Herbology and Weapon Usage, Arithmetic, Science, History and he surpassed all the class.

That night, Alex couldn't sleep...he could only think of the conversation he just heard that day near the hospital wing, and the questions still roamed around his mind, hissing and moaning with a ghostly tone:

_Who? What? When? Why? What? How?_

And many specific questions.

Alex lay cold on his bed while he heard Louis and Lewis snore at the same time at both sides of his bed, with the questions, heat and THEIR SNORES it was enough to drive you crazy.

He got up, he _needed _a laptop, technology or anything that could get to the internet...wait, Aaron always had a laptop with him.

Alex looked at the clock, it was beyond curfew, he had to hurry...

He slowly crept out of bed and near Aaron's, he was lucky that Aaron was a heavy-sleeper because he didn't move an inch when Alex took his laptop out of the bag and sat with it on Alex's bed.

Alex sighed, rubbed his fingers, opened the laptop and put on 0% sound so that nobody would be able to hear him, and he leaned back.

The website he wanted was there, the official web page for CIA agents, not the public one. Alex typed Joe Byrne's username and password which he had seen when Joe Byrne had typed and not noticed him there, he smirked at the password...The Iron Patriot. Byrne SURE loved Iron Man.

Alex got into the website, one of the most private websites in the world. Alex clicked in AGENTS and in the search bar and typed: COLEMAN

The only result that appeared was:

AGENT: ROBERT COLEMAN

Alex clicked it.

NAME: ROBERT SHELDON COLEMAN

GENDER: MALE

AGE: 18 (ALMOST 19)

MISSIONS ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESFULLY: 15

MISSIONS FAILED: NONE

YEARS IN SERVICE: 3

FAMILY: JOHN AND ALICIA COLEMAN (PARENTS), TULIP AND BEGONIA (MINOR SIBBLINGS)

STATUS: ACTIVE AGENT, STILL ALIVE

EDUCATION: AP CLASSES IN ALL SUBJECTS, COMPLETE SCHOLARSHIP TO PRIESTONE PRIVATE SCHOOL BECAUSE HE SKIPPED 3 GRADES. ACADEMIC LEVEL IS HIGH, GRADUATED FROM 5TH GRADE WITH THE GOLDEN PRESIDENT'S AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING EXCELLENCE.

HEALTH: OVERALL HEALTHY, ONLY ALLERGIES AGAINST EXTREMELY CHEMICAL SITUATION AND HAS A HARD TIME BREATHING IN VERY STUFFY, HOT OR PLACES FULL OF SMOKE

WEAPON OF CHOICE: LONG SWORD OR GUN

NATIONALITY: AMERICAN, BORN IN COLORADO BUT HAS SPENT MOST OF HIS LIFE IN NEW YORK CITY

[CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PRIVATE INFO.]

But before Alex could click that MORE INFO button, the door opened and he was greeted with the cold eyes of a certain someone.

"Hey Alex, what are you doing? Typing late at night? And on the OFFICIAL CIA WEBPAGE? RIDER...WHAT. WERE. YOU. THINKING?"


	4. Where Alex Knows His Troubles

_Awesome feedback everybody! Thanks!_

_Am I really that good? Aww...thanks so much for the compliments too!_

CHAPTER 4:

Alex, like any sane person would have guessed it was cranky and strict Sargent Dane, cold Agent Coleman or even Joe Byrne who may have been coming there for a 'visit' or just to see Alex. But no, the person who was standing there, arms crossed with his eyes glaring at Alex was...

Mutt.

Yes, Alex was as surprised as you probably are right now.

"MUTT?" he exclaimed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE SO LATE?"

"What were _you _doing on the CIA webpage at midnight Mr. Sneaky Rider?" Mutt snapped back. "They're lucky they assigned me for patrol duty tonight or else you would have continued your crime or whatever you've been doing!"

"I was NOT hacking it!" exclaimed Alex.

"Yeah, yeah, now log off immediately!" Mutt snapped at Alex ignoring him.

Alex logged off of the CIA webpage, turned off the monitor and returned it quietly to Aaron's bag. Then he followed Mutt out of the room where Mutt continued scolding him like a little boy.

"AND YOU STOLE IT! From that wispy and weak boy...how could you Rider? I am going to contact your superiors IMMEDIATELY-"

"MY SUPERIORS?" Alex was now the one enraged. "I don't have any superiors because I DON'T WORK FOR ANYONE!"

"Oh, haven't you heard?" said Mutt. "MI6 has claimed themselves as your superior to all the world because well, after all the bragging MI6 has done because of you...all the agencies want you."

"And how do you know about MI6? You're simply an American soldier," said Alex while Mutt snorted.

"I THINK, you've met my older brother, yes?"

"Your older brother..."

Alex thought about it, the name. Mutt, mutt, mutt, mutt...

"WOLF IS YOUR BROTHER?!" he shouted. "You look NOTHING alike."

And Alex was right, while Wolf had chocolate skin, dark brown hair and eyes, Mutt was red-haired with bright blue eyes and alabaster skin.

"Yes, that's what they ALWAYS say," said Mutt rolling his eyes, "I was always a male replica of my mother, Wolf and my little brother, Pup resembled my father."

They reached Mutt's office and he opened the door. It was neat, yellowish office like any decent office at all. Alex sat down on a chair and Mutt behind his desk typing a few things in his gigantic flat desktop computer.

After the SKYPE sound Alex asked:

"You use Skype?"

"Do you ask so many questions?" answered Mutt back at him angrily.

He left the room while turning the flat monitor around so that Alex could be face-to-face with one of the few people who he was most scared to talk to.

Mrs. Jones.

She was the same as always, serious and cold with those narrow eyes piercing you like sharp daggers. Her chocolate complexion, having brown skin and dark brown features. She looked at him.

"Alex."

"Mrs. Jones," he muttered.

"Alex," she said, "Mutt here said that you were on the official webpage of the CIA on JOE BYRNE'S ACCOUNT and that you were searching Agent Coleman, am I correct?"

"Yes," he mumbled.

"And why is that? What made him so special to you, Alex?"

So, without any option, Alex told her everything, Scorpion's and Mutt's public talk in the assembly, coming to camp, training, Agent Dawn falling from the window, his suspicions, eavesdropping in the hospital wing and finally, searching up Coleman's name.

"CALL AGENT COLEMAN HERE IMMEDIATELY," she shouted, Alex told Mutt her message and he ran off quickly.

A few moments later, cool Coleman entered the room.

"Good evenin' ma'am," he said to Mrs. Jones sitting next to Alex eyeing him suspiciously.

"Agent Coleman," she said coldly, "we discussed that you would not tell Alex about his mission, and what did you do? Or does the CIA lie about your abbilities?"

Coleman looked at her and replied in the same cold manner, "Of course I knew he was there, his fingers are longer than he thinks. I thought he ought to know after all the trouble you put into him, I think he should be tired of your lies so far, AND your broken promises."

_Hallelujah! _thought Alex. _Finally, somebody has enough sense to understand me. Thank you!_

Coleman and Mrs. Jones put themselves on an epic stare battle, with Mrs. Jones' cold and harsh looks with Coleman's suave, determined, cold and angry look.

After awhile Mrs. Jones said, "It was all neccessary."

_It was all neccessary, _thought Alex. _So it was all neccessary? My parents dying? My uncle dying? The near death situations? Jack? The lies. The pain._

"Oh and Alex," she said, "before you say anything too touche (accent in e) for my liking, I would like you to see this."

Her face vanished and in return was a small video clip, no more than 30 or 40 seconds but had a stunning effect on Alex. He had to watch it 3 times and he was stunned. He couldn't talk, he couldn't move...he couldn't do anything.

Mrs. Jones looked at him once again.

"No," said Alex, "no, no, no...it's impossible."

The video was about a laughing woman sitting in a silver throne in what looks like to be an extremely posh and elegant castle. And that woman was none other than...

Jack Starbright.

"It's the cold truth Alex," Mrs. Jones said, "she is not dead."

"She exploded," said Alex through pain and gritted teeth. "She died in the bomb, exploded to bits...nothing more."

"But that's not all Alex," said Mrs. Jones, "there is more to the story, but that's unless you join and accept the mission Alex, which I will explain. Deal or no deal?"

"Are you blackmailing me?" asked Alex. He remembered his first meeting with MI6, they had blackmailed him with Jack too...about her visa.

"Maybe."

Coleman snorted at Alex's side and then caught his attention at a painting.

And Alex said something he IMMEDIATELY regretted:

"Deal."

Mrs. Jones smiled at him. "Excellent Alex, now off with the explanation of the mission. You see, you've been looking at the news lately? Of course you do, well you must have heard of the mall killings in Macy's?"

"All of Macy's killed," muttered Alex.

"AND, missiles flying over British homes and our very own Headquarters...we already know the suspects of course. There is this new organization, a brother organization with Scorpia...only a lot worse. Scorpia looks like Mother Teresa compared to this new organization."

Alex shuddered. THAT bad?

"It's called the Black Pride, it's a group of the world's darkest assasins, murderers, drug dealers, weapon creators (or any dangerous thing at all) and cold, evil, and harsh men AND WOMEN. The founders call themselves: 'Order Eight.'"

"I see," said Alex. "So what did they do?"

"Well Alex, remember those myths about that lost underwater city...Atlantis?"

"Yes."

"They're true."

"But I thought they perished when-"

"That was a lie Alex, to protect Atlantis. You see, Atlantis is a lush and rich city. The very streets are made of gold, precious gold. The architecture is made from the finest mosaics and material. Atlantis is hiding something Alex. It's made of 7 nuclear spears around it and in the middle of Atlantis...a gigantic energy ball that can activate those nuclear spears to a level of ultimate destruction...it can power anything to blast ENTIRE continents! Or even...Earth."

Alex was silent. A gigantic energy ball that could explode entire continents or the entire world? This was BAD, very bad.

"And...why is Jack in this?" he asked.

Mrs. Jones coughed, "It seems Alex, that she IS part of the Black Pride."

"WHAT?" exclaimed Alex. "I KNOW JACK! SHE WOULDN'T DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT!"

"She was an extremely trained spy Alex," she said, "a spy within a spy, the Black Pride knew you were one of the big chances to destroy their plans, so they sent Jack to spy on you and they made the fake Egyptian bomb where she 'exploded' but just disappeared to the Black Pride headquarters."

"But why would Jack do that?" asked Alex. "She's a good person."

"Well Alex," said Mrs. Jones gravely, "when your brother is the HEAD of the Black Pride, there's nothing you can do about it."

Alex was silent, Coleman, who he had forgotten, shifted uncomfortably.

"What do I do?" asked Alex.

"All right, first you have to know more about Atlantis, we'll send you as a high school student doing a report on ancient civilizations or something similar, you'll be with a German scientist, Albritch Gurten for a few weeks to study, then you'll go and find out the Black Pride headquarters, spy them and disguise yourself as an assasin too. Then you will one night investigate their files, steal a few to us, investigate their weapons and THEN turn them off while escaping one night. Yes, then you come back and we'll tell you what you have to do NEXT."

"All that and more alone?" asked Alex. He liked working alone but wasn't that too much? Maybe a partner would lighten up the work.

"Agent Dawn will be aiding-"

"HOLD DOWN A SECOND!" bellowed Coleman getting to his feet. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT! NOT IN HER STATE! PLUS, YOU DON'T-"

"Joe Byrne gave us the permission Agent Coleman," said Mrs. Jones coldly.

"But-"

"Leave them Coleman, we have no choice."

Alex and Coleman turned around to see Agent Dawn leaning against the wall, an arm slinged and bandaged and on a wheelchair temporarily. Her burns, scratches, scars and cuts had now almost vanished and she looked almost good if it weren't for all the bandages that wrapped her.

She wheeled herself over.

"I heard it all, I just knew that with all those special medicines you gave me, you wanted me to heal faster and to get in a mission. It's an agent's instinct," she said as she was the closest she could be.

"Agent Coleman," said Mrs. Jones, "you are currently dismissed. Go back to bed."

He muttered something to Dawn who only sighed and he left the room, slamming the door and making the walls slightly tremble.

"Excellent agent," sighed Mrs. Jones, "great abbilities but a very bright temper..."

"So when are we starting?" asked Dawn.

"Alex will need some training from you for about 1 or 2 weeks, then he'll be gone for the last week of his stay in this camp, for some-"

"Medical issues," said Alex rolling his eyes.

"Yes, and then you will start the first phase. Study Atlantis...no, Wikipedia isn't enough."

Alex smirked.

"And so on, you will divide some of the work to speed it up or lighten up between you. At your first week of the mission, you will be transported here, to the new Headquarters-"

"NEW HEADQUARTERS?" asked Alex.

"We had to be careful," said Mrs. Jones, "since Jack has already told the Black Pride that the Royal and General Bank is our headquarters, well, a few days after we moved, it got bombed."

"Oh," said Alex.

"You will change identities, Alex, you will be Felix Rochester and Agent Dawn, you will be Bailey Mellow. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am," said Dawn warily as if to say, _I'd rather sleep than talk with you woman._

"Yes Mrs. Jones," muttered Alex.

"Very well, you are now dismissed. Good luck agents and I'll meet you soon after you land here from British Airways."

Alex and Dawn walked down the corridor.

"Are your injuries better?" asked Alex lamely. As we told you in the first chapter, he wasn't much of a chatter, but curiosity swept him over.

Dawn shrugged, "Mostly, the burns and broken bones are supposed to be better in a few days, I'm having surgery tomorrow, something about some organ. The gallbladder, I think it has a little hole, said it could poisoned my blood and stuff."

"It's really dangerous," said Alex, "little but dangerous."

"Kid, how did you get in to this agency?" asked Dawn, Alex sighed.

"My uncle Ian, he died from a car crash which actually turned out-"

"_The _Ian Rider, yeah...everybody heard. Sorry for you kid."

"And you?"

"Er...I was a hobo if you want to say it in bad terms, I roamed around abandonned buildings and I pickpocketed, I am an excellent pick pocket. So it was raining and I got into the New York City CIA headquarters by accident. And well, I started playing with the you know, practice stuff. Turns out I was being watched and that whole year, I was trained and the next, I started my career."

"Wow, large story," said Alex. "Did you go to a SAS camp or something?"

"Nope," said Dawn, "I went to THIS camp."

"Oh, I see..."

"Well," Dawn said reaching his door, "be quiet and good luck Alex."

Alex nodded. "Thanks."

When Alex entered the lights were turned on and he was facing 3 other boys, Vincent Horan, Gregory Doyle and James Farrow. Lewis and Louis were sleeping like a pair of pigs.

"Right Alex, we need to know," said Gregory to him.

"Where were you just right now?" asked James

"Bathroom," shrugged Alex calmly, "no biggie, now can you turn off the lights off? I want to sleep too you know."

"Who were you talking to in the hall?"

"The nice female soldier that showed me the way to the bathroom."

"FINE ALEX," said Vincent. "But we'll be watching you."

"Yeah, perfect Alex Rider, known to all the camp and the perfect boy that can handle weapons perfectly has memorized the latin name of every plant," said James in an annoying little girl voice.

"We'll be watching you," repeated Gregory, turned off the lights and they all went to sleep. Alex ignored what just what happened with those boys, the mission...the training would start tomorrow, should he tell Coleman about Gregory, Vincent and James? Were they a risk?

His whole body said one answer before falling asleep.

Yes.


	5. A Nasty Birthday

_Nobody expected that, huh? Here's a special POV from Order Eight!_

CHAPTER 5 (SPECIAL):

"Well, well Electro Braces, what are you doing today? Playing with your little gadgets?"

Electro Braces looked at him with bored eyes, grabbed a wire and stuck it in his neck. The man who had earlier teased her yelped and held his electrocuted neck in pain and fell in the ground, unconscious.

She sighed and continued doing what she was doing, one of her genious and highly electrical bombs that she would be installing again in New York City, only in a different location...

The Empire State Building.

She tangled the wires just so the agents would have more of a challenge but she did it carefully, so that the bomb wouldn't explode in their headquarters. She finished the bomb, applied a few of her little secrets and put it along a few others. Then, she struck that bomb with another similar 7 and tied in together in a nice bundle.

"Neat bomb 'lectro," said Jason Vestro, an ex-MI6, german navy soldier and international assasin since his wife, Vittoria's death. Vestro rubbed his blistered hands from his early boxing years. "Those citizens will be sorry they have been alive."

"Thank you," said Electro Braces coldly, "Amara, would you take this to Brutus? The meeting will start soon and I want to see the bombings."

"S-Sure," said Amara taking the bomb carefully in her hands and walking off.

A red-haired woman came in and ruffled Electro Braces' hair in a caring motherly way and said as she sat down at her right hand side:

"How's the bomb show going on Electro Braces?"

"Hey Jack," said Electro Braces casually, "all right, I plan to make it flashy. Maybe the news?"

Jack laughed at her and the people started storming in, exactly 6 people.

Order Eight was made of 8 people obviously, Electro Braces as the youngest and most unexpected genious but puzzle piece. Her, the man who had teased her or Tyson Marone, Amara who was human computer 50 years more advanced than the computers today, Jason Vestro as we said above, Nelson Courtman, Melissa Jackson who were the strong dudes, Alistair Maine and the leader of the group...

Lucan Azriel Starbright.

Jack Starbright, Lucan's little sister also was invited to the council but she was pretty much only accepted because 1. she wasn't a bad spy and 2. she was Lucan's little sister

They sat down.

"Well Electro Braces..." hissed Lucan with his snake-like voice, cold and poisonous, "how is your little show going? Enough to please me?"

"That depends on Brutus' timing," said Electro Braces, she held a light red box full of buttons.

"For now then," said Lucan, "we have an assigment for you."

Electro Braces was silent, her teeth itched and her tongue massaged them.

"Remember Albritch Gurten?"

"That wispy, mad old scientist?" snorted Electro Braces. "Of COURSE."

"Remember one of our agent's last missions? Mission Discovery, you made him those atomic wristwatches."

Electro nodded.

"Well, it's real. That children's kingdom of merpeople and gold on streets? It's all real, and there might be a treasure in there, something you will-"

"I know, that agent was Agent Lawrence, she told me everything."

A few gasped, NOBODY interrupted Lucan Azriel Starbright but well, he had caught a little liking on that little girl, it was obvious.

He smiled, "Of course, then you must know what to do? I will give you the file soon after this meeting and you will prepare."

Electro nodded and sighed warily, more weeks of no sleep. GREAT.

"I'M BORED," whined Alistair Maine, "what are we doing?"

"Waiting," replied Electro to the cranky, mid-40's man.

A few minutes later of waiting, Amara's cellphone rang, she picked it up and then turned off her phone.

"Brutus tells me he is near our headquarters, he has located the bomb where you requested," said Amara to Electro Braces who nodded.

"Excellent, Jackson, turn on the television."

Jackson did and the first thing was CNN NEWS.

"I am Courtney Abrahams on CNN news, broadcasting live from New York City is our reporter Kyle Lewis, tell us Kyle, what have you been investigating?"

"Well, Courtney, we've been investigating the Macy's case which was started in this exact Macy's, and then at every other Macy chain in the country. Policemen weren't able to locate the suspects so far and this case has even reached the CIA. Also, the famed bomb also in a McDonalds chain exploded and more than 70 people died including an agent from the CIA...there headquarters were locared somewhere near there. More than 200 injured. A terrible-"

"Disgusting," muttered Electro Braces and then Lucan smiled his snake and evil smile, knowing that something good was up.

"EMPIRE STATE BUILDING!" exclaimed Electro Braces clicking a button.

"-tragedy indeed Cour-!"

An explosion blasted Kyle's body along all of the citizens of New York City and the sound was the one of a storm. It was like hell had arrived on New York City. People shrieked in terror while they could and then, their flesh exploded to bits.

"Electro," gasped Jackson in awe, "WHAT did you put in that thing?"

"Some little...things," smiled Electro, she moved on and the television changed automatically to one of their cameras.

"GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE!"

Button clicked and disaster created, the bridge collapsed and exploded a chaos of rubble, smoke and fire. It fell in the water with a mighty splash, another bomb was activated because of this and a huge wave came over San Francisco and then down the roads. Cars were like tiny boats and clashed against buildings. Chaos, panic, water all over, deadly fire and smoke. People collapsing.

Lucan laughed like it was hilarious. "More Electro Braces, more!"

The scene changed, they were now in the Eiffel Tower, it was a smooth and clear night. The stars shone and couples walked in the streets, occasionally kissing and children giggled while playing tag. The air was fair and love was up. Nelson Courtman snorted, his wife had cheated him and ever since, he had never believed in anything including love.

"EIFFEL TOWER!"

For awhile, nothing happened, then, the point of the Eiffel Tower flew up and the rest of the tower exploded, killing almost everyone in Paris with it's blast. It burns buildings, people, plants and animals. It spreads and everything is on flames. The Eiffel Tower point has reached the sky and explodes, and a liquid springs out and drops to the ground. At first, the people rejoice because they think it's rain but it's not...it's ACID liquid. Things burn to the core, the ground is full of ashes, people get burned, and the flames rise higher.

Lucan chuckles like a little boy on his birthday because well, he had requested something special for his birthday, which was today.

"SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE!"

The Sydey Opera House's ceiling sprang up to the air and then the ceiling exploded in midair, making a festival of ash and thick smoke, making it difficul to breathe, the building itself exploded too and the pieces of rubble turned into bright fireworks in the sky, no-fireballs to tell you the truth. They land in several places of Australia, burning it.

Lucan sighed, "And now, for the big end, what have you got?"

Electro Braces smiled an evil smile and then changed the camera, and Order Eight smiled in total glee, that was including Jack Starbright. Lucan chuckled.

There, in front of them, was none other than England's Big Ben.

"This is going to be good," said Nelson rubbing his hands.

"Really going to rub it in MI6's face," cackled Jackson.

It was indeed a show, the upper triangular part of the clock shot up and traveled towards somewhere, the second part, shot out some smoke and ashes out spilling all over England and starting deadly fires. Then, the clock part shot exploded. Deadly ricin which Electro Braces had added for 'special effects' splattered a few roads and people dropped down. Then the whole building exploded, wrapping England in thick ashes and smoke.

The upper triangular part arrived at it's destination...Buckingham Palace. The guards were too late because it landed on the roof and BOOM!

It exploded. Yes, that's right.

Buckingham. Palace. Exploded. To. Bits.

With everybody inside it.

Lucan laughed like a maniac, and everybody else in Order Eight laughed except Electro Braces, Lucan smiled to her:

"Girl, I might even adopt you one of these days!"

"THAT is the Order Eight way to celebrate a birthday!" exclaimed Jack laughing. "Luke is cracking himself out!"

Electro Braces only managed a sly smile and in her usual cold voice said:

"Happy Birthday."


	6. Preparations for the Mission

_Sorry for not writing so long, hope you like these chapters! Thank you for your patience!_

CHAPTER 6:

The next day, everybody was talking about the attacks on some of the most important buildings in the entire world.

"-the Queen! Oh, all of Buckingham Palace exploded!"

"-The EMPIRE STATE BUILDING!"

"Oh lord...the Sydney Opera House, my father-"

"-destroyed! Killing so many people, right in France. Not the Eiffel Tower, not the Eiffel Tower..."

"The GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE! Did you see how the water collapsed under the weight, San Francisco is SOAKED!"

Sabina was talking about the Golden Gate bridge while Becca who was half-British babbled about the Big Ben show while the twins agreed and made some rude comments on the Queen's fashion sense.

Alex couldn't do anything but think. Today was the second day with the CIA and his first day of real training with Dawn. Sure, Horan, Doyle and Farrow had all been sent to Sargent Dane's office AND THEN kicked out when Alex had told Coleman so he had something less to worry about. But he was still worried, this mission had a lot of layers.

"Alex, you all right?" asked Sabina prodding him in the back.

"Oh, what-? Sorry, I wasn't listening."

"You've been acting weird since we've arrived," said Lewis or Louis.

"Is it Horan, Doyle and Farrow's dumb threats? Dude, you should be celebrating!" whooped Lewis or Louis. Everybody already knew about the Horan, Doyle and Farrow news.

"I know," said Alex, "it's just...today I'm having Advanced Training."

After many series of congratulations and how awesome it was going to be Alex just smiled and sighed. He was lucky to have friends like these.

"I'm a bit...nervous I suppose," he said.

"Alex Rider, nervous?" snorted Becca. "Not a chance."

"Becca's right Alex," said Sabina. "You'll be fine, relax."

A loud bell rung, and all the kids hurried into their first CIA classes of the days while Alex went the opposite way to a big gray room where Dawn was practicing on her own.

She could now stand and Alex clearly saw that despite her injuries, she was still as good as new and her skills were still with her. She threw knives with much more accuracy and speed than Coleman, climbed and jumped as well as a monkey and did so many other things.

She threw her last knife and waved, "Hello."

"Hello," said Alex sitting in the chair next to her and she sat down.

"So, you really don't need any extra practice since you've pretty much mastered everything but just in case. Here, we'll sharpen your skills, senses, we'll review our profiles and everything for the mission and then we'll practice to be teammates."

"Sounds okay to me I guess," said Alex shrugging. The truth was that it was not okay.

"Right, so some combat," she said, "first to pin each other to the ground for 5 seconds wins. And no bones please, I'm still recovering."

So they set the circle, and started, Dawn charged at him and he dodged, sliding the other way and flipping back up, Alex pushed up from behind trying to surprise her when she swung a kick at Alex's face and he slid down into his knees, his head stretched back and the kick missing 1 centimeter from his face. He rose once again and Dawn grabbed his ankles and slammed him into the ground.

Alex got up shortly and stretched his legs and slid himself fast hoping Dawn could slip and she almost did but jumped. So it continued, a series of punches, kicks and dodges, most of them were Alex's moves and he was pretty good in combat but he had to admit, Dawn was unbeatable.

Then, after a punch in the stomach by Alex and a kick in his shoulder by Dawn, they both sat down in the practicing mat, tired and sweaty.

"Rest," said Alex grabbing a water bottle and Dawn sighed.

"You weren't too bad I guess."

"Yeah," said Alex gulping the bottle in 6 seconds down.

"Not so fast Alex, it makes you vomit," said Dawn, "trust me."

Alex nodded and then they practiced sword fight, spears, axes, clubs, arrows, knives and then just when they finished knives and were about to discuss their profiles, a handsome red-haired man with huge-sized muscles came in hurriedly panting and making wild monkey noises.

"Berry," snapped Dawn, "calm down and tell me what's the matter."

"The mission," he gasped, "the schedule has been changed, please report yourselves at Joe Byrne's office. NOW."

"CHANGED? JOE BYRNE? Berry, are you sure you're not drunk again?" asked Dawn looking at him strangely.

Agent Berry glared, "I've just returned from a mission from Nigeria. I'm not drunk, Joe Byrne told me to get you a few minutes after I arrived!"

"Okay I believe you, Africa's awful," said Dawn. "ESPECIALLY, Nigeria."

"RIGHT? It's so-" Berry shuddered, "never mind. Good luck and hurry up, you know what Byrne likes about punctuality."

"Hell with Byrne," said Dawn to Berry leaving Alex a bit shocked, "but thanks for telling me, dude, go drink a Coke, calms you down."

"Thanks," he muttered as he left the room. "Atomic elephants, killers everywhere, blood, blood..."

"He's gone mad already," said Alex as they reached the building where Byrne's office would be just 8 floors above.

"Yeah,he's Agent Charles Berry, I don't judge him...Nigeria missions are HORRIBLE. They're nightmares, have you gone on one? No, your profile doesn't say that. But I suppose Russia might be a minor scale of it."

"YOU'VE SEEN MY PROFILE?" exclaimed Alex.

"Of course, but I won't tell anything. Didn't know you had a girlfriend by the way," Dawn said clicking on the elevator button and getting in with Alex from behind.

"It's because I DON'T!" said Alex. "Who said I had a girlfriend?"

"It's my translation for 'girl who he is incredibly close to,' does Sabina Pleasure ring a bell?" she grinned at him and Alex scowled.

"She. Is. Not. My. Girlfriend! Even if MI6 says so in my profile, it's all lies."

Dawn sighed. "It always is, hey! We're here!"

They got out of the elevator and 4 men immediately stood in front of them, huge bulky dudes with gigantic muscles.

"ID CARD!" he shouted.

"I think I left my MI6 card back in England," said Alex while Dawn handed hers to the officers.

"Don't worry, you're my guest," she said as the officer handed the card back and she put it back in her pocket. Then, the door had 5 guards who checked them for drugs, weapons or anything dangerous.

They opened the door and there were cameras guarding every step of their way, guards staring at them with guns aimed at them and Alex told Dawn:

"Wow, you have really good protection here."

"Yeah, and you might have thought Joe Byrne was important," she said rolling her eyes. They were stormy grey now, as if she had remembered something painful.

They opened 3 other doors, with scanners, iron and a bunch of other minerals when they FINALLY reached Byrne's office.

Joe Byrne was exactly as Alex remembered with grizzled white hair and moustache. He stared at him in a creepy way. His eyes were cold but warm at the same time.

"ALEX! Long time no see!"

"Indeed," said Alex shaking his hand, "er...good to meet you again sir."

Joe Byrne turned his head towards Dawn, "Hello Agent Dawn."

"Hello sir," she muttered back not looking at him. "So...the schedule has been changed?"

"Yes," he said, "the information is now ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL. We need it immediately so you will reach England by tomorrow. And start the mission on Thursday. We will make preparations here so that we don't delay things in England."

"But we're not ready sir," said Alex.

"NONSENSE! Both of you are excellent agents, you will both do fine. Now, I suppose you have a gadgets man back at home? What was his name...Silas?"

"Smithers."

"Whatever, I wish you both good luck. After the stylists, Dawn, report yourself at Gryffins. Your plane leaves at 3 p.m. exact. Don't miss it."

"Yes sir," they both said and went out.

"I don't have a good feeling about the stylists," said Dawn. She wasn't sarcastic, rude, angry or serious. She talked like a normal...teenager. Like she was talking to a friend, casual.

"Me neither, I _want_ my hair to stay like this," he said and Dawn smiled weakly.

It was 10 a.m. and so Dawn guided him into a set of platinum doors and Alex couldn't help just let his jaw slightly drop. The colors were bright, there was every single substance that could transform you. Make-up, powders, bottles, medicine, fake-eyelashes, color contacts, and so much more it looked like an ultimate salon. Agents were changing eye color, skin, and hair color.

Alex and Dawn stopped at a receptionist table and Dawn clicked the bell on the counter.

A fat, red-haired lady came there with pink high heels, her golden tag wrote in perfect cursive letter: Fiona. She reminded Alex a female hippo with a pink outfit and shoes.

Fiona squealed and hugged Dawn, "Oh my dearie! It has been such a long time and you're so big now! I can't believe it!"

Dawn smiled and hugged her back and tried to retreat since she could hardly breathe but couldn't and finally, she let Dawn go and saw Alex.

"Who is this little boy, your new boyfriend? He's cute, I love his hair! Pamela, come here! This hair is softer than silk!"

A fatter brunette woman waddled there and touched Alex's hair admiring it and Alex sent Dawn a look: _Help?_

"Fiona, Alex is not my boyfriend," she said, "and I've never had one. So-"

"NONSENSE! What about Nick?"

Silence. Alex could really tell Dawn wanted to punch her for saying Nick's name but Alex's curiosity took over. Who was Nick?

"He wasn't my boyfriend," she managed through gritted teeth, she tried to get to the point. "Now Fiona, we were here for our mission..."

"OF COURSE! Pamela is here to treat you Rachel, and I will be with you young gentleman."

"Right," Dawn looked at him. "See you soon and try not to pee on your underpants."

"Very funny," said Alex. But he was a bit nervous he had to admit and so he followed Fiona into a white room.

"Right dearie, Joe Byrne wants us to change you completely, your opposite. So we'll do something with your hair..."

"Not my hair," said Alex.

"Dearie, it's beautiful, I know but we do have-"

"Why can't we just stay like we are?"

"Because they would recognize you, now stay still and don't move while I get some black dye. And some other materials dear."

Alex sat there waiting for doom. He was going to change into Felix Rochester. He couldn't believe it...a new person. He wondered what they would do to Dawn. He shuddered.

He looked at Fiona's direction, maybe he could get some stuff out of her...some stuff he didn't know, YET.

Fiona arrived full of materials, "All right HONEY! Let's start with your hair!"

Fiona made Alex change into a white robe, while she put on protective gloves and rubbed Vaseline into Alex's hair while saying, "It's not permanent sweet, don't worry."

She poured some dye in with some developer and started mixing in the bowl, and a few moments later, it was ready. She brushed Alex's hair in squares and pinned them seperately in small groups, then she dyed them.

After, 30 minutes, Alex's hair was dry and Fiona wiped some extra dye, then forcing Alex into a shower where he washed his hair and then came out. Fiona rubbed some conditioner in his hair and then she wrapped it up in a towel.

After, he was sprayed so that his skin was not his usual tanned one but a marble, alabaster white. Then she grabbed a box.

"Freckles," she explained.

"I thought you could only get freckles by sunshine and genetics," said Alex.

"Correction, you _could _now you _can. _Just put these on and they'll look exactly like freckles."

She put some of the 'freckles' on his face and even though it wasn't too good, she curled up his hair and then stuck some blue eye contacts into his eyes.

"This is not going to affect my vision, is it?" asked Alex.

"NOT AT ALL!" exclaimed Fiona. "They are just like the clear ones."

"Oh," said Alex.

"And the last touch," she said putting a pair of square glasses on him before Alex could argue.

Alex was surprised, he saw incredibly well in these glasses, in fact...he saw better.

"They're made of a new crystal whose name I don't bother to search," smiled Fiona, "won't hurt you...at all."

"Thanks," said Alex. Now he went into the dresser to wear the clothes Fiona had arranged for him. Striped white and green cotton shirt with jeans, tied sneakers and a perfectly ironed blue jacket. Supposedly, Felix was a clean-freak.

They went out just at the same time Dawn did, Alex frowned at her and she glared at him as to say: _If you say anything about this I will personally rip your lungs out._

She was...blonde, she had blonde slightly wavy hair that she left down and that poured down like a river, there were some honey blonde highlights but that made her look cooler. She had a lot of hair. Her eyes stayed the same, but they were...brighter, a bright grey. She was lightly tanned now. She wore a casual silver star earrings, purple, green and brown bracelets on her right hand and TOMS. She wore a casual purple t-shirt and jeans.

She looked like a popstar. THAT good.

"You look good," said Alex.

"You too," muttered Dawn and she managed to say: "Thank you Fiona, Pamela."

They waved and they left.

"TORTURE," they both said.

"I can't wait for this mission to end," Dawn groaned. "My hair! At least they kept my eyes."

"Lucky," muttered Alex. "So...we're going to Gryffin's?"

"Yup, this way," said Dawn twisting into another corner. It was 1 p.m.

They entered a door, and Alex looked around. This was Builder Heaven, there were nails, hammers, screwdivers, pencils, paper, wood, stone, notebooks, books, limestone, cement, metal, iron, copper, magnets, liquids, chemicals and so much more it made Alex's head spin.

A spiky blond hair dude with neon green eyes and a slightly toned body grinned at them.

"Hello Ray-Ray!"

"Stop calling me that Gryffins," snapped Dawn. "So...what have you got for me?"

Alex wanted to see how creative the CIA could be.

"Right," said Gryffins, almost ignoring Alex. "I got 4. So you need to be high school students and then assasins? Well, here a few things."

Alex thought Gryffins' explanations were very long, so he paraphrased each object he gave her and made a mental list.

-Explosive wristwatch: There are 3 buttons, the middle one is to activate an explosive or bomb, you do this before changing the minute and hour hands. The first one is for the minute hand, which is used to mark in how many hours the bomb is going to explode. You change the minute hand into 1, if you want it to explode in 1 hour. The third one is for the hour hand and to determine the force of the bomb, 1 being weak and barely hurting somebody and 12 meaning that you can explode an entire city. Then you click the center button to start again.

-Stick-O-TOMS: When you move your feet right and left while wearing this for 3 times, then some sticky spikes will appear and will allow you to walk on any surface and could make a normal kick really painful.

-Shooting pens: When you click the top of the pen twice, then you activate sort of a gun pen and you aim it at the person and it shoots out a small but painful bullet.

- Detector Hairbrush: There's a tiny flower picture in the midde and when you click it, it activates a detector of cameras, bugs, metal and drugs. You click the picture again to deactivate it.

Dawn grinned. "These are GREAT! Thanks Gryffins!"

"Always good to help," he grinned. "And good luck to you both! It's a shame I couldn't make some gadgets for you Al."

"Yeah," said Alex.

"Come on!" shouted Dawn with her backpackand stuffed the gadgets in while changing into the Stick-O-Toms.

It was nearly 2: 10, so they both ran out of the building while waving to Gryffins and they boarded a nice airplane to England so that they could start their perilous mission.


	7. Home Sweet England!

CHAPTER 7:

"Right, this is an excellent opportunity to review our fake profiles," said Dawn as she held out her profile and started examining it while drinking some coffee.

Alex grabbed his folder and started examining it, he thought his curls were annoying because they kept blocking his vision. He pushed them away and read.

NAME: FELIX ROCHESTER

SCHOOL: TRENTON HIGH

PLACE LIVING IN: SAN FRANCISCO

PLACE FROM: ENGLAND

RELATIONS: DAMON AND PAMELA ROCHESTER, PARENTS, BOTH 41. FLANELLA 'NELLY' ROCHESTER, LITTLE SISTER WHO IS 7 YEARS OLD. BEST FRIENDS WITH BAILEY MELLOW (Agent Dawn)

LIKES: BOOKS, STUDYING, SOCCER, ASTRONOMY, SUPPORTING GOOD CAUSES LIKE CHARITY, GADGETS AND CARD GAMES, PREFERABLY POKEMON.

PERSONALITY: YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SHY, NOT TALKING MUCH, BUT ALSO CLEVER AND VERY GOOD WITH GADGETS. YOU ARE ALSO NEAT AND PREFER EVERYTHING CLEAN AND SAFE. YOUR ATHLETIC ABILITIES ARE PRETTY GOOD SINCE YOU LIKE SOCCER AND YOU HAVE A GOOD HEART, SUPPORTING GOOD CAUSES LIKE BREAST CANCER AND CHARITY.

"Not bad," admitted Alex as he finished his folder and put it down in the table in front of him, Dawn shrugged.

"They try to ease it up for you sometimes," she said while playing with her pen, but not clicking it twice, NOT clicking it twice at the same time.

"Well, do you want to do something? We'll be sitting here for about 10 hours," Alex said, maybe he wouldn't actually. The private plane was well fit, with a fully stocked snack bar, cooler, and fridge. It had a games room where you could play cards, ping-pong, ice-hockey, chess and so on. There were small TV's in front of you to watch or to play videogames. There were also books.

"Oh, I'll be pretty entertained, I'LL be doing some research on Atlantis mind you," Dawn said grabbing a huge book that was called: **ATLANTIS THROUGH AGES**, "and you should too."

Alex shrugged and played some of Assassin's Creed and then he suddenly remembered the 2 agents he first worked with, Glen Carver and Belinda Troy.

"Hey, Dawn...did you by chance meet some agents called Glen Carver and Belinda Troy?"

"Sure," said Dawn flipping, she was already on page 20. "Liked Troy, she was strict, and went with the rules. Very good agents. Glen Carver...he was nice but TOO flamboyant for my taste. Both of them...dead, what a shame. I suppose you worked with them on Mission Skeleton Key?"

"Yeah," said Alex. He was a bit annoyed that Dawn had already read HIS profile and knew so much about him already while Alex barely knew her.

"Hey, do you want to do 20 questions? To get to know each other, it only seems fair since you saw my profile," he said.

Dawn shrugged exasperately. "FINE, but make it 10."

Alex felt his curiosity would be payed off soon. "Yeah, but ANY question?"

Dawn thought about it. "FINE RIDER, I don't see why you're so excited."

"Right, do you want to start?"

"I guess," said Dawn still reading, she was on page 30 and the book had 500, "how much do you love Sabina? It's obvious Rider."

"I don't-" Alex was about to finish his sentence before he stopped to think about it. Well, he wasn't Sabina's boyfriend but...he did love her. A bit, a really tiny bit, he liked her smile, her laugh that rung like bells, and just how good-hearted she was. Always willing to help.

"I do love her," he admitted, "but I don't love her like those dramatic soap opera actors."

She nodded while smirking, "Your turn then."

"Who's Nick?"

She sighed, like it was painful to breathe and like the air was suddenly thicker, and then she coldly turned to Alex.

"He was my partner, my best friend and the best teacher you could ever have in sword fighting. And he was the bravest and most noble person you could have ever met in this dirty world."

Alex silently knew what she meant, Nick was dead. The usage of the words 'could' and 'was' were key words to know this. Alex nodded sadly.

"He sounds like a really good friend...I-I'm sorry," he said.

"There's nothing you should be sorry of," she trailed off thinking about her question, she was on page 50. "What is your favorite place in the world?"

Alex thought. Obviously it had to be in England somewhere, it could be the house where he and J-Alex's heart stopped. Jack. Oh he missed her so much, Jack being alive was such a good thought but...Jack going to the dark side? It seemed so hard.

"My old house," said Alex, "back in England before I moved to San Francisco. The one I was in with my uncle and my housekeeper Jack."

She nodded and Alex felt she needed some rest from the previous question so he asked:

"What is your favorite book?"

She shrugged. "I have many, too many I've lost count but I suppose my top choice would be The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown."

"It's a good book."

"It is."

Alex thought Dawn wanted to seek revenge on him so she asked innocently:

"How much does your housekeeper-Jack-mean to you?"

Alex sighed but the answer came naturally, "A lot, she took care of me since I was small and well, we shared some good moments. Jack, my uncle and I...she was so loyal, I never expected her to be-to be evil. She has a good heart."

"My apologies," she said, "let's just hope it doesn't weaken the mission."

Alex felt Dawn's personality come through him like a dagger, she was a cold and frank person. Not caring about herself and not afraid to say the truth. And that was good sometimes but sometimes harsh.

The questions went on until Dawn was on page 220 (she was a very fast reader, Alex had to admit) and Alex felt his curiosity had been quenched.

Then, at 6 p.m. they had dinner, which was pretty nice since they were in first class, Alex decided to enjoy himself a bit like a normal teenager since well, he wasn't going to enjoy for long.

They played ping-pong as Dawn called it, it had always been table tennis to Alex. But the name made sense, as they played he could hear the sounds:

PING!

PONG!

PING!

PONG!

Even though Dawn was pretty good at it, Alex was better and with the practice he had with Paul Drevin **(AN: READ SKELETON KEY) **he was now a pro.

Then they played ice-hockey which Dawn crushed him at and then they resumed their former tasks, Alex slept and Dawn resumed reading her book.

At midnight, Dawn prodded him repeatedly not caring if it hurt.

"Rider, Rider, Rider...we have currently arrived."

"Oh," said Alex immediately jumping up. He was pretty eager to be back home, where he wanted to be and belonged. Even up here and at midnight, he could smell the sweet air.

England.

They landed in a private airport where they hopped down and grabbed their belongings. In the airport, there were celebrities, famous athetes and famous authors singing books. Cameras clicked everywhere and they managed to squeeze themselves out of it before anybody tried to interview them.

Of course, the airport didn't know they were agents so they did have to do some procedures.

"Hello," said a man, he had a perfect British accent and Alex finally felt he belonged, since back in the States, he had always been special with his accent that stood out.

"Hello," said Dawn and Alex at the same time.

"I believe you both are...Ms. Mellow and Mr. Rochester?"

"Yes sir, I'm Bailey Mellow and this is my friend, Felix," said Dawn for him, she sounded like a normal teenager, and it was forced.

"Oh, so what is your purpose on this trip to England?" asked the man and Alex started talking.

"We are here to visit my parents for awhile since we will be going to Germany after to do some research for a project. A very important project and we thought that the constant process of changing planes would be quite tedious."

The man smiled, "So you are British, huh? And this lady must be American."

"Yes sir," said Alex.

The man stamped their fake passports, "Have a nice rest in England and a nice day."

"To you too," nodded Dawn before they grabbed their passports and left the airport to a shiny grey car that looked quite common around England. Well, MI6 was taking precautions.

After driving all over England they landed in a dump, a smelly dump full of flies. Alex felt like he wanted to choke but the driver simply showed them a open trash can.

"Get in."

Dawn didn't doubt him, she jumped into the trash can and Alex didn't see her anymore, he jumped in after her and then he landed in a clear silver floor. A blonde receptionist smiled at them.

"Hello Alex Rider, and Agent Dawn, welcome to the new MI6 Headquarters, the Head Mrs. Jones is currently waiting for you."

"I hope we aren't late," said Dawn walking towards the elevator. Her face was rock hard and serious with no feeling whipped into it.

Blunt would have been proud.

Alex followed her in and soon they were 15 floors underground which was sort of a change and then, after the 15 guards and 30 cameras analyzed their every step of the way, they entered Mrs. Jones' office.

Of course she was the same woman, she sat there her eyes cold and serious chewing some peppermints. She nodded at them. A man in his 30's with slick black hair and black glasses that looked like wanted to rip your guts out stood next to her.

"Hello Alex, welcome back and it is a pleasure to see you again Agent Dawn," said Mrs. Jones.

"Hello Mrs. Jones," she said and then she grinned at the man. "Hey Cottonball, didn't know you worked for MI6 now?"

The man smiled at her revealing a wide smile with a few broken teeth and ruffled her hair, "Good to see ya again kiddo."

He had no British accent so that only meant he was an American...but who was he? Alex felt LOST. He looked at Mrs. Jones who said:

"I am sorry Alex, you've been absent for a year at MI6 and you probably haven't met the new deputy head of MI6, Darwin Mithrall."

Mr. Mithrall shook his hand, he had a deep voice and he smelled like coffee, "Good to meet you Alex, I have heard many things about you and I am very impressed."

"Thank you," he said. "Quite some Headquarters Mrs. Jones, nobody would suspect it."

"Exactly," she said. "The CIA gave us the idea, we had to admit it was unpleasant at first but it turned out all right at the end."

"Well, how do you feel being back in England?" asked Mrs. Jones and Alex shrugged.

"I feel good, I guess."

"I hoped so, anyways, you both know your missions, and you checked your profiles?"

"Yes Mrs. Jones, we are well prepared though Alex and I would have appreciated if we had more time to...get to know each other," said Dawn coldly but calmly.

"Of course we're apologize but we have to admit, the information was suddenly needed quite soon since we discovered they're going to start their plans."

They nodded.

"So...tomorrow you will go to Albritch Gurten. Now we will provide you more information about him. He owns an institute with 15 libraries, and several other advanced resources. Mostly it's for college students to study, research or to make projects...but several high schools have been sending kids to learn there. He also tutors people."

"So it's sort of like a hotel and a library for students?" asked Alex.

"Yes, students live there and they can become more advanced in their studies, projects or etc. It's the Institute by the way."

"98.7 % of the students going there and out have become great educators, talkers and people," said Mr. Mithrall.

"So this is your cover, both of you have been assigned a very special final project for Ancient Civilizations and you chose to study Atlantis. The teacher called Mr. Blunt has allowed you both 2-3 weeks to make an essay about Atlantis, a presentation and a full scale model of it."

"Mr. Blunt?" said Alex and Mrs. Jones nodded.

"The same one...we needed somebody that was trusted."

"Mr. Gurten here is a specialist in Ancient civilizations, ESPECIALLY Atlantis which he will be glad to show you. And if you treat him very well then he would be obliged to show you some secrets which we hope can help you on your mission," said Mrs. Jones.

"AFTER," said Mithrall, "the mission, you will be transported back here, the essay is actually going to be to us and it has to be formal. With all the information, then we will make some little changes and tell you your second part."

"It doesn't seem very difficult," said Dawn.

"Oh it will be difficult, other than the work you'll be forced to do, you might want to spy around for any of the Black Pride's agents. They have more than 40 million of them now so you always have to be careful. ALSO, we are suspecting that Albritch Gurten IS part of the Black Pride," said Mrs. Jones.

They were silent.

"We would like you to confirm our thoughts, for now, that is all, I wish you both good luck in this mission."

"Thank you Mrs. Jones," Alex said miserably and Dawn said coldly.

"But Alex, you will find an old friend of yours 3 doors in front and 4 right," said Mrs. Jones smiling, "he'll help you a lot."

Alex smiled back, thanked her and went out, he already knew who the person was as he and Dawn entered his office.

Smithers was the same guy, fat as always, and around his usual big clumps of mess, prototypes and plans. He waved at Alex as he came in and smiled at Dawn.

"HELLO BOY! LONG TIME NO SEE!"

"Yeah," smiled Alex, "good to see you too Smithers."

Smithers looked at Dawn, "I suppose Gryffins made your gadgets already?"

"Yes sir," said Dawn, "would you like to see them?"

"Wouldn't be too bad, want to see what my nephew has been doing these days," he said as Dawn got the gadgets out of her bag and was starting to explain.

"Gryffins is your nephew?" asked Dawn, she looked quite amused.

"Yes, and a wretched human devil...he's a troublemaker but a genius like me, it runs in my family. HE BURNED MY HOUSE THE FIRST TIME HE CAME AND HE WAS 7!"

Dawn allowed a weak smile, and Smithers nodded in approval.

"Excellent gadgets but tell my nephew that mine are BETTER. Alex, I will give you 4 gadgets...high school student looking for research...let me see."

"First," Smithers said, "here's a bracelet."

Alex examined it, it was those I LOVE BOOBIES bracelets, this was one was white and looked like just any ordinary bracelet for breast cancer.

"How does it work Smithers?" asked Alex.

"See, you click this heart here from the I 3 Boobies sentence 4 times and at the fifth time press it against something, it either electrifies the person/thing or burns it up. BUT let go the moment the bracelet touches something to electrify or YOU'LL get electrifed too. It's reusable too."

"Nice," said Alex making the bracelet dangle from his wrist.

"Now, the second object," Smithers grab a red cap with the words CHELSEA on it. "This cap allows you to know where danger is, people or traps. It'll vibrate roughly in your scalp in that direction. Nobody will see it. When it vibrates softly, it means that help, or an agent has been spotted."

Alex put on the cap and saw that it was fit perfectly on his head, as if it were designed especially for him. "Always saving my life Smithers."

"Right," said Smithers, "so you're supposed to make a scale-model of Atlantis? You'll need glue, to paste the stuff on, huh? Well, Alex remember that zit-cream I sent you in your first mission? Ah...it seems it was only yesterday."

"I remember," said Alex, "it cuts through metal."

"And this glue," said Smithers smiling, "does precisely that BUT now, you can BURN through metal, things or give somebody a nasty third degree burn."

"Neat, but Smithers, don't you have something that can actually attack?" asked Alex.

Smithers winked at Alex and Dawn. "Mrs. Jones didn't want anything TOO violent, but they don't know about this little secret, do they?"

And then, he handed Alex something.

A teddy bear.

Alex held the teddy bear in his hand while Dawn kept serious, simply staring at the teddy bear, her eyebrows raised.

"This little teddy bear is Nelly's," smiled Smithers, "so that you can remember her. His name is Mr. Cuddles."

"Mr. Cuddles?" smirked Alex.

"Yes, Mr. Cuddles is also highly explosive so...don't plan on hugging him TOO tight, you activate a bomb that can explode at least 3 floors of a building when you hug him too tight or turn his head twice and you throw the teddy bear. It'll give you 10 seconds to run and then BOOM! Plus, when you click the nose, it'll brighten up and then, if you drop it anywhere, it will be a camera and sound recorder to record any conversations while you're gone."

"Wow, Mr. Cuddles is the awesomest teddy bear ever," said Alex joking, though it _was _pretty cool. "I wished I had these kinds of toys when I was small."

Smithers laughed and waved to him as they left.

They went back to Mrs. Jones' office, where she told them that they would have a free practice or rest day today and that tomorrow at 7 they would be transported to the Albritch Gurten Institute. She also gave them so keys for an apartment near the MI6 Headquarters for the day.

As Alex put his gadgets carefully inside his luggage for tomorrow at Mrs. Jones' office, like Dawn did, he put on his bracelet...it was reusable after all.

"Hey," he said to Dawn, "it's only 3 in the morning, what do you want to do? We've got a whole day before us."

She shrugged, "I finished my book about Atlantis, maybe you should too."

Alex thought about how thick the book was. "Er...no thanks, is this your first time in England?"

"Nope," said Dawn, "this is my 6th time actually."

"Oh," said Alex, he wondered what she had been doing here. "So what should we do other than reading?"

Dawn shrugged, "I don't know, I guess we could do some more practice and you could show me around, I never had the proper opportunity to be shown around London, only Cambridge, since Nick's Gran and Gramps were from there."

Dawn sounded really calm even though she talked about Nick.

"That sounds cool," said Alex. The truth was that he wanted to go to Tom's house, though he doubted that he would recognize him...and with a girl, he didn't want Tom to think too much.

"Good, that's what we will do this afternoon, this morning we will practice and in the afternoon you'll show me around," said Dawn yawned, jingling her keys, "but for NOW, I'll go to sleep, so sod off for now and leave me alone. My sleep is precious."


	8. An Afternoon Gone Wrong

CHAPTER 8:

At about 2 in the afternoon, Alex decided to take a walk around London to show Dawn around. Even though he was from Chelsea and had lived there all of his life, he knew London just as well. His uncle had always brought him there for a visit every single Sunday when they had time of course.

London, was just the same as Alex remembered, though at the U.S, the weather had been bright and sunny. London was cold and some people even said they saw some snow fall in the countryside of England. Alex felt familiar with absolutely everything, the people with thick coats holding shopping bags and chatting along their way, people laughing and drinking coffee, the weather, the two-floor buses, the streets packed with people and cars, the elegant buildings, flowers blooming, fresh goods baking and the smell of home.

Yet, Alex felt something weird tugging at him...it had been a year since he had seen this and been here at England. The scene was so familiar yet it gave a slight weird feeling in his stomach.

Dawn was looking more at the statues and architecture than the people, she frowned sometimes and sometimes touched them which was a bit weird.

"So, do you know German?" asked Dawn to Alex.

"Not fluently but proficently," Alex responded.

"Did you uncle Ian teach you languages too?" asked Dawn.

"Yeah," said Alex. He could clearly tell Dawn didn't like talking but didn't like silence either and was forced to talk with Alex.

"Hey, I have a friend over here in London, on Old Montague St, would it be a problem if we went to his house?" asked Dawn changing direction and Alex shrugged.

"Shouldn't be a problem I guess," he said, "and this friend...how old is he?"

"22," said Dawn casually, "his name is Francis Crane, he's from your MI6 but we've met before."

"You seem to know England pretty well," Alex said curiously, "and it's agents."

Dawn shrugged, "I've gone on some missions for MI6 too, since you were gone for a year...they still had missions to do you know. Like we lent you for mission Skeleton Key, MI6 lent us-Nick and I-too."

"Funny it seems," Alex muttered, "that we are like socks,being leant to each other and useless pawns."

"Yeah," Dawn muttered, "we are useless pawns in these spy games. But seriously Rider? SOCKS?"

Alex smirked and Dawn stopped, "Here's the house."

Alex scanned it with his hawk eyes, it had a black gate that surrounded the house with roses blooming everywhere. A small 2 floor-apartment stood there, made of bricks and elegantly built.

Alex pushed the door open, knowing that some alert would surely sound but no, the door simply opened wide at them when Alex had simply pushed. No struggle.

"It's open," said Alex and for awhile they just stood there, too shocked to do anything when Dawn said:

"Hurry up, let's go! Somebody's already in there!"

Alex wondered what was SO important about this Francis Crane but he followed Dawn into the house carefully. Thankful for his bracelet.

They ran in the house, the front door was obvious unlocked already and as they entered Alex saw what looked like a battlefield.

There were 3 men dressed in black, one was lying on a couch (which had been ripped open and the stuffing was following out) with a river of blood flowing his tattered body. Another identical man was cut in half and was purple because of the bruises he had. Another man was hanging from the fan, the pieces of his body falling everywhere like rain, one piece even landed on Dawn's head.

She wiped it off like it was a fly, not flinching, not wincing, not shrieking just with a cold and serious face.

She kneeled and sniffed the uniforms and she gagged while turning to Alex, "Scorpia."

Alex's bones froze...Scorpia? What was it doing now? He thought he had destroyed them completely and judging by his maths, there were only 5 people from the original 12. Why had they chosen this house? Who was Francis Crane?

"Rider, go take these identity cards to MI6," she handed the Scorpia identification cards to Alex and 3 sticks, so that MI6 could scan their DNA."

"What about you?" asked Alex.

"I'll be up in the bedroom," she said taking out a shiny black gun from her pocket, wow...Alex hadn't even noticed it.

"You need help," said Alex. "I can help you."

"Alex, I'll do it, don't worry. I can do it," she whispered now.

"But-"

"I SAID I COULD DO IT," she said in a loud whisper. "Now run!"

Alex took the identity cards and ran towards the MI6 Headquarters, or the dump. He slid as fast as he could. He then plunged into the crystal doors without opening, and he shattered the glass, also scaring the secretary who called Mrs. Jones and Mr. Mithrall. Alex punched the elevator button and hurried to Mrs. Jones' office, all this in less than 20 minutes.

"Trouble," gasped Alex at the shocked Mrs. Jones and Mr. Mithrall, dropping the contents of his hands, "Dawn. Scorpia. Scan these. Francis Crane-"

"WAIT A HOLY SECOND, FRANCIS CRANE?" said Mithrall getting up. "This is frantic Mrs. Jones, we must hurry, send a few age-"

"But who is Francis Crane?" asked Mrs. Jones.

"I don't KNOW! What I DO KNOW is that Dawn's in trouble, so send some people over!"

Mrs. Jones turned on the loudspeaker, "DANIELS. STONE. HARROW. WILKINS. REPORT YOURSELVES AT MY OFFICE IMMEDIATELY."

Almost immediately, 4 men burst into the room with gigantic and long guns.

"AT YOUR SERVICE MRS. JONES!" they chanted almost in harmony.

Mrs. Jones looked at Alex as if to say: _Well boy, you could learn something from them AT LEAST._

But Alex wasn't worried about that, "Great! Let's go!"

"Alex," Mr. Mithrall touched his shoulder, "this is dangerous-"

"I DON'T CARE! I'LL SHOW THE WAY, ADIOS!" he said as he ran out of the building with Agent Ben Daniels following other agents looked at each other as if to say: _Is that kid, mad? _

Then they looked at Mrs. Jones for approval and after she rolled her eyes and nodded, they went.

"Some boy you have there," said Mithrall, "a bit of a temper may I say."

"Oh," sighed Mrs. Jones exasperately, "it's MUCH MORE than that."

88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 8888888888888888888

The house was the same as always, the other agents had easily caught up with them and they stormed into the house. Fo-I mean, Agent Daniels Alex had to call him was in front of him along with Agent Stone. Agents Harrow and Wilkins watched Alex's back. The bodies were still there and the blood too.

They stormed up the stairs and they stopped in their tracks, 7 bodies littered the floor and luckily, none of them was Dawn's.

"Alex, you go check the other rooms, we'll check this room," said Ben Daniels.

Alex nodded and went into several rooms which were incredibly clean and then he went to the bathroom. He said, "Er...guys, I found something, it's not a girl but..."

The men came in and looked at the bath tub.

It was full of blood, completely full of blood, almost overflowing and inside, was a nude body with 2 gigantic double-fist sized holes. One on his head and one on his chest.

"This," sighed Wilkins, "is the dead corpse of Francis Crane."

A ghostly and eerie silence crowded all over the room.

"Great," said Harrow, "we arrived too late, the man's dead and Sunshine is kidnapped or worse, in the same place as Crane."

They shuddered, Alex knew this wasn't the time but he really wanted to ask why they nicknamed Dawn sunshine but whatever. He looked at the body, it was a tone and olive-skinned one he could see. Wait, on his nose...

"Kid, what are you doing?" asked Stone as Alex plucked a piece of paper from the nostrils and frowned as he read.

"It's probably a clue, that was clever Alex," said Ben Daniels.

"Yeah, that was neat," the others admitted.

"Can you read it?" asked Stone to Alex and Alex read the tiny note:

**"FIND AGENT DAWN AND THEN TURN OFF THE BOMB BY FOLLOWING A TRAIL OF CLUES. YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT OR ELSE, AGENT DAWN WILL DIE AND THE BOMB WILL EXPLODE ALL OF ENGLAND. THE FIRST CLUE IS THIS:**

_God's finger touched him, and he slept. _

-_Tennyson"_

"What a great day! 8 hours to find this set of clues," said Alex sarcastically, "or we ALL DIE!"

"Great use of sarcasm kid," said Stone and the rest except Daniels muttered in agreement.

"THEN LET'S START DECIPHERING IT! I was never good at poetry...so don't count on me," said Ben Daniels.

"I grew up on trees and hunting wild bears," snapped Stone. "What do you think?"

"Nope," said Harrow, "I hated my poetry teacher."

"Don't count on me," said Wilkins. "Ki-I mean, Alex?"

Alex looked at them, "I know this quote, Alfred Lloyd Tennyson, really good British author. This quote...it talks about death. Because God reached him and he slept. And death with Alfred Lloyd Tennyson...it must mean something. I don't know."

"I KNOW!" said Harrow making them jump. "Maybe we should search where Adam Lincoln Triston-"

"Alfred Lloyd Tennyson," muttered Daniels.

"Yeah, whatever, where he was buried! Death and Alfred Lloyd Tennyson!"

"Well, that's a good place to start," shrugged Harrow, "I've got a few motorcycles around here, hey kid-sorry, ugh, ALEX, how old are you?"

"16," said Alex.

"GREAT! You can drive on your own!" said Harrow.

"I don't have a licence yet," said Alex.

"Well, it's a good time to train," said Stone, "BUT WAIT A SECOND, let's stop and think. WHERE was Alfred Lloyd Tennyson buried?"

"Oh."

Nobody had thought about it.

"I think it was Westminster Abbey," said Alex. "Lots of famous authors were buried there."

"Great idea Alex!" exclaimed Wilkins. "Now let's get out of here and start this clue hunt!"

"Guys..."said Ben Daniels suddenly worried and cautious, "I smell smoke."

"Smoke?" said Harrow, he sniffed and then nodded. "It IS smoke."

Then suddenly, the door fell on top of Harrow's foot and he yelped in pain and then they saw chaos. Everything was scorched black and burned and a deadly fire was HURLED towards them.

Everything was on fire, the flames rose and crackled, the heat rose and smoke circled around them, slowly asphixiating them all.

They were trapped.


	9. Westminster Abbey (PART 1)

_Is my writing getting worse? I dunno, but I think it has been deteriorating, but I've been getting little constructive reviews. So please! Tell me if anything is bad or wrong or whatever. Thanks!_

_Oh, and I'm so sorry for not updating for so long. I hope you forgive me and I'll update Chapter 10 very soon. It's an author's promise._

CHAPTER 9:

"CRAP!" shouted Stone.

Alex looked around quickly, the door was obviously NOT an option and there were no windows so they were going to have no oxygen soon...

He looked up, many houses had attics but he wasn't sure if this was one did, he looked around and bumped into Crane's bed. Then he looked up, the ceiling was smooth and didn't look like there were any holes in it but then he got an idea.

He got on the bed.

"Alex, it's not time for jumping on the bed!" snapped Harrow while they tried to break the walls somehow to jump. Daniels was pouring some water around the fire which was helping but not much.

Alex jumped up and he touched the ceiling, it was hollow meaning...

He jumped higher and pushed the ceiling, where it cracked, Harrow, his foot broken hopped where Alex was and started helping him. Together, they pushed the piece off and then, a hole was there. Hope...

The rest saw the hole and quickly came towards them, they lifted Harrow first because of his broken foot, then Alex who easily was swung up, then Wilkins, Stone and finally Ben Daniels.

They closed the door and gasped for clean air and then they gasped in surprise as they saw what they saw up there.

It was an office, a great office full of blueprints, guns, gadgets, files, pictures and...liquids. Everything interested Alex, especially the pictures and liquids.

The men were busy with the blueprints, examining them and the guns, admiring the age of the gun and the accuracy and speed. And they tested the gadgets.

Ben Daniels read through the files, eyebrows creased in concentration and constantly flipping.

But not Alex, those men thought he was peculiar but well, he _was _peculiar.

And that made him Alex Rider.

Most of the pictures were of criminals, FBI's most Wanted, drug dealers, snakeheads (Alex shuddered), kidnappers, assasins and rapers. He stuffed them in his backpack which he had brought with him carefully. But there was a tiny envelope which Alex delicately opened.

**ORDER EIGHT**

He looked into the pictures, there was only 2, obviously the mission hadn't been a total success but he had something, Francis Crane.

The first picture was of a cruel looking man in his mid-40's with blond hair cut messily and was nearly brown because of dirt and filth. He had an ugly scar crawling from his right cheek to his chin. He was serious and had a murderous look. But his eyes...they were sad, cold, angry and grayish blue. The label said:

**LUCAN STARBRIGHT, PRESUMED LEADER**

Alex gulped, Starbright...so this was Jack's brother, could Jack really be that bad?

Then, the next was...

Jack.

She was the same except she was blond like her brother, she had a glare in her face and several scars around her face. She was messy, dirty and with a fiercely angry look he hadn't seen before. The label said:

**JACQUELINE STARBRIGHT, SISTER OF LUCAN STARBRIGHT AND TRAINED SPY**

Alex sighed, no going back. She was evil, she had chosen Order Eight and had really betrayed him and his uncle.

He put the pictures in his backpack carefully and looked at the tubes where the liquid were, they were clear and bubbles bobbed up and then exploded on top.

The label said: **NETRONEUM SAMPLE, HANDLE WITH CARE.**

What was netroneum? What did it do? Why was it so special?

He put all of the tubes carefully wrapped up and in his backpack and then was about to check on the other men when a picture slipped from the table, he picked it up and examined it.

It was a family, an orange-haired teen was grinning at the camera with his arms around 2 little girls, one about 7 and one about 5. Two orange-haired parents were behind them. The little 5 year old was orange-haired too and was pretty in pink. But the 7 year old one...

She had familiar glossy and smooth black hair, iron gray eyes, and perfectly carved features and Alex could only think of one name for that girl:

Dawn.

WAIT! ALEX HAD FORGOTTEN HER!

"Guys!" he said. "This is REALLY interesting but we've got somebody to save remember?"

"Right," said Ben Daniels stuffing some stuff in his backpack, "save all you can gentlemen, then we'll get it to MI6 and then we'll search for Sunshine Locks, now hurry up!"

He checked to see if the house had burned up completely and it had, but luckily it could still stand up. After everybody stuffed things in their backpacks, they hopped down and went over to the parking lot. The firefighters were coming to the burned apartment and they all ran towards the Royal and General Bank.

They went one at the time so that it wouldn't look suspicious and then they dropped the things off at Mrs. Jones' office, so that she could preserve them. And they headed towards the parking lot where 50 MI6 motorcycles where.

"Harrow will go with me," said Stone, "broken foot. The rest of you go alone. Formation: Daniels will go first, then me and Harrow, then Rider, then Wilkins. Understood?"

"Good plan I guess," said Daniels. "You know how to ride a motorcycle Alex?"

"A bit," said Alex. "But I guess I could also watch you do it and just copy you."

"I'm starting to like this boy," admitted Wilkins. "Not much trouble if you ask me."

Alex got on the motorcycle and sped through the streets along with the men, after a while of riding they were closing up near Westminster Abbey and it was nearly 5 o'clock p.m.

They stopped at Westminster Abbey and then they headed towards the most obvious place of all, Poet's Corner.

Lots of tiles were in the floor, with names of incredibly famous authors, Alex couldn't help just have his eyes glued at Charles Dickens.

"Hey, I found Tennyson!" shouted Wilkins.

"Where? There are so many bloody tiles," shouted Harrow back, limping towards him.

"Next to this guy called Robert Browning, whoever he is," said Wilkins as Alex snapped out of thought and everybody joined next to Wilkins.

**ALFRED LORD TENNYSON**

**BORN AUGUST 6, 1809**

**DIED OCTOBER 6 1892**

"Jeez, that guy died in the same day he was born but in a different year and month!" noticed Stone. "And it's Lord, not Lloyd...I'm confused but whatever."

"Where's the next clue?" asked Alex.

"Er...I think we should pry this tile open," said Ben Daniels looking around the tiles.

"I don't think it's legal," said Stone back. "Guards, kids and people...not good."

"We could show them our IDs and make them clear out the space," suggested Harrow.

"Not a bad idea Harrow," said Wilkins. "Right, let's go...boy, stay here."

"Shouldn't somebody protect him in case somebody kidnapps _him _along with Sunshine Locks?" asks Stone.

"Good thinking, I will, the 3 of you go," said Ben Daniels as the 3 headed towards the guard who nodded and showed them towards an office.

"Right, so what do we do?" asked Alex. "Wait here and do nothing? Every hour is precious."

"Yeah I know, but...we can't just possibly pry this open with everybody here," said Ben Daniels, "unless..."

"I do something," groaned Alex. "I don't know? Do I burn something?"

"Oh no, do a big show so that everybody goes out of here and I can pry this open," said Ben Daniels, "with this!"

He held a pen, but when he clicked it three times in a row, it turned into a deadly knife that could cut through anything and pry open anything as well.

"Smithers?" asked Alex smiling.

"Naturally," said Ben Daniels back.

Alex went outside, he had little time and who knows what Dawn may be suffering now? He looked around with the lighter and matches Ben Daniels had given him.

He went under a bush and lit the match. The fire danced before him, the red, orange and yellow colors vibrating in beautiful harmony. Alex put the lighter deep in his bag, maybe he would use it. Then, he threw the flame as far as he could. He waited 10 minutes until the flames were big enough and then he clicked the fire alarm, unleashing the wildest noise.


	10. Westminster Abbey (PART 2)

CHAPTER 10:

Most people described Electro Braces as a mix of wilderness and an impossibly cold but elegant complexion.

She was as cold as a snake, she didn't flinch or wince like other normal girls would when they saw a certain gory death or something frightening. Her face always covered with a mask that showed no feelings, not even anger.

She was sly as a fox, she moved quickly and didn't want delays. Perfection was her goal and completing it was enough for her. Nobody knew her, she was in the shadows, there were no files of her and therefore, nothing against her. She was secretive and nobody knew when she could squeeze the air out of you. It could be tomorrow, next week, next month or it could be today.

And the most remarkable thing, was that Electro Braces could combine this, along with cleverness, craftiness and other feelings and make her look incredibly elegant and beautiful.

Today, Electro Braces was dressed in her usual outfit, black sunglasses, a simple black shirt (a weapon proof armor under her), a black jacket which she zipped all the way up to her neck, jeans and a pair of black combat boots.

She was in England to see how her little game was going when her walkie talkie beeped:

_'Ma'am, we've got them.'_

She smiled. The Three P's: Perfection, Passion and Punctuality. Just right there in front of her, she hopped up the stairs, into a secret entrance towards Westminster Abbey and then she went up the stairs.

_'Perfect. Officer, might I do the honor of-?'_

_'Of course ma'am, we're waiting for you.'_

Tied in front of her, were Stone, Harrow and Wilkins. Struggling and cursing at the guards they stared at her wide-eyed.

She grabbed a gun and said, "Get out the gags."

They did and the 3 men faced her, tied up, so she smiled and said:

"Good afternoon gentlemen."

"You can't do this," laughed Harrow nervously, "you're only a little girl, no more than 13 I suppose?"

"Never judge a book by it's cover Mr. Harrow," said Electro Braces coldly. "Behind a pretty face there's always something more to that."

"Well, you're certaintly _not _a pretty face," sneered Wilkins.

Stone was quiet, he was clever and knew that even if they tried to talk more, they would all end the same, dead. No way out, they just had to hope Daniels and Rider could do it alone.

"Oh no," said Electro Braces, "I'm certaintly not a pretty face, you are right and I do not wish to be. Now, gentlemen, I have excellent accuracy, what are your last words?"

"I hope you ROT IN HELL!" screamed Wilkins. The guards laughed but Electro Braces didn't.

"Even by your age and size, you're the BIGGEST LITTE MONSTER I've ever seen!" screamed Harrow, he would have said a bad word but he didn't want to waste his breath on it.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Stone.

Electro Braces looked at him, her eyes softened, "Mr. Stone, I never chose to be this way. It was those agencies. Their missiles shot the wrong plane, they killed my parents, made my sister a maniac, made me an orphan and made me join Order Eight.

"I never wanted to be this way, I wanted to be a normal girl with sleepovers, gossip and friends. To go to a good college, get a job, marry and have a family. But no. Once you make a choice, there are no regrets, no going back."

Then she said, "I'm sorry all of you, but in my orders, you must die."

Then she shot them all. She did have excellent accuracy, she shot all of them in their right eye and then on their chests, exactly in the middle of their hearts.

She wiped her hands and grunted, "Dirty job, gentlemen, I'll wash my hands, meanwhile, you can display that on the ceiling of this beloved church. On Lucan's orders, not mine. Ugh, how I HATE killing."

**A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A- A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-**

It had done well, the fire wasn't too big and the alarm had got all of them out in a matter of seconds, enough for Ben Daniels to pry the stone open.

After the fire was gone and only a few plants were burned, Alex met with Ben Daniels outside and then he asked, "So what now? What did it say?"

Ben Daniels said gravely, "There was nothing."

"NOTHING?" said Alex. "Then I suppose it has to be in the grave."

"But wait..." said Ben Daniels, "what about Harrow, Stone and Wilkins? I feel something funny is happening."

Suddenly, people pushed past him to get inside Westminster Abbey, a crowd was forming and Alex rushed in, and then, he looked up like everybody else.

There, hanging from the ceiling on top of him, were Harrow, Wilkins and Stone, with blood pouring over their chests. Their faces cold and frowning.

Ben Daniels' jaw dropped, "They're following us Alex."

"We need the clue," said Alex, he looked at the stone. He looked closer and closer until he saw it. The clue he was waiting for, it was only slightly darker.

He found these letters in a darker shade: **GHEBINOT **

Ghebinot? No, that was wrong, but if he arranged the letters in a logical way...

**GO T HE IG N**

_At least it made more sense,_ Alex thought. Going somewhere...but maybe he could insert some words. After go, he was sure it was the word 'to.'

He rearranged them and added a few words...

**GO TO THE BIG BEN.**

Bingo.

Alex had just figured the code out, and very clever it was if somebody wasn't looking carefully. Alex nudged Ben Daniels and said, "The Big Ben, now. Let's go!"

"Wait, what? Alex-?"

But Ben Daniels was already being dragged by him outside as quickly as possible to the motorcycles but unfortunately, they were gone.

"CRAP!" said Ben Daniels.

A mother who was passing by with her son glared at him and covered her son's ears, while whispering something about rude men and their curse words.

"Sorry," muttered Daniels. "Anyways for transportation on our mission, I think I've got a friend a few blocks from here who can-"

"NO thank you," said Alex. "Last time we went to a friend's, we started all this trouble. I DON'T want to go to a friend's anymore."

"Got you," said Daniels, "plus, it's almost 6...by midnight Dawn and England will be both dead. And who knows what they are doing to Sunshine Locks."

"And who knows how many clues we have left...let's hurry! Can't you rent a car or something?" asked Alex.

"Let's go to my other friend's house," said Daniels and he shrugged as Alex glared at him. "He's Italian, he sells cars and PLUS, he owes me a favor. You know what he sells?"

They started running through the street while Alex asked, "WHAT?"

"He sells Ferraris! And Lamborghinis! Italian cars! German cars! European cars basically! Best race cars ever, I bet he'll lend us one, he has like billions...he won't care if we wreck one!" grinned Ben Daniels.

When it was 6: 10, they reached a gigantic brick mansion in the outskirts of London. After Ben Daniels and Alex entered, explained everything to Daniels' friend, Nino Baltocinni, he agreed to lend them a Ferrari of the best kind.

"The most romantic way to save your girlfriend boy," he said in his thick Italian accent winking at Alex.

Alex shook his head, "She's not my girlfriend...but thank you for lending the Ferrari to us."

Then they drove off as fast as an MI6 agent could in a desperate mission and went off towards the Big Ben. Which wasn't too far away.

It was 6:45 by the time they reached there and stood staring up at London's Big Ben.

"So now what?" asked Alex. "It's not open for public. And we can just enter with all those guards over there."

"Maybe I could show them-" Ben Daniels said before regretting it. He remembered what had happened to Stone, Harrow and Wilkins. Shudder. "-never mind."

"Good idea," muttered Alex. "Can't we sneak up there? As in climb up and open a window and go in without anybody watching?"

"Oh, of course ALEX!" said Ben Daniels sarcastically. "We can climb up the Big Ben like lizards without using ropes or anything and not being seen by 50 guards surrounding Big Ben and tourists with camaras and those DUMB t.v companies like CNN or BBC or Yahoo!"

"Gosh, sorry," muttered Alex. "At least I have ideas, what do you propose?"

Ben Daniels sighed, "Sorry Alex, I'm just a bit stressed. What do you think we should do besides sneaking in?"

"I don't know," said Alex. "But we should risk it by showing our MI6 ID'S, there's a possibility that they'll let us in."

"Right, let's try," said Ben Daniels, they went closer to the men. Those men were actually pretty nice and JUST BECAUSE they were from MI6, they let them in.

What they ACTUALLY missed when they went climbed up was:

_"Mr. Starbright? Yes, we've got them in our coop. What do you think we should do?"_


End file.
